Sweeney Todd

Synopsis

Jonathan Kent's celebrated new production is now entering its final unforgettable weeks. Hailed as 'one of the greatest musicals of all time' (Daily Telegraph), featuring 'two world class performances' (Daily Mail) from Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton, Sweeney Todd  is the thrilling theatrical experience that’s set the West End ablaze. 

Set amongst London’s seedy side streets and laced with Sondheim’s characteristically brilliant wit and dark humour, the musical depicts Sweeney Todd’s savage quest for justice and retribution after years of false imprisonment.  Aided and abetted by the pie-shop owner, Mrs Lovett, he sets out to avenge the wrongs done to him and his family.
 
Combining a brutal sensibility with elements of English music hall, Sweeney Todd offers a fascinating portrait of a man driven to madness by injustice.

"Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton are unmissable." - Sunday Express

"World class" - Daily mail

"Not to be missed under any circumstances." - Observer    
 
Michael Ball is Britain's leading and best-loved musical theatre star. An Olivier Award winner and multi-platinum recording artist, his revelatory transformation into the Demon Barber has been called 'the performance of his life' (Daily Mail).      

Academy Award® nominee and BAFTA-winner Imelda Staunton, best known for her acclaimed performances in the Harry Potter films, Cranford and Vera Drake is 'nothing short of astonishing' (Time Out) as Mrs Lovett.
Don’t miss your last chance to see two performers at the top of their game, in the most extraordinary theatrical event of the year.

The Sweeney Todd cast also includes John Bowe, Peter Polycarpou, Robert Burt, Gillian Kirkpatrick, Lucy May Barker, Luke Brady, James McConville and Simeon Truby.

Please Note: suitable for ages 12+

Season Ends 22 September.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 21 March 2012

Last season’s Chichester Festival Theatre production of Sweeney Todd has arrived at the Adelphi trailing clouds of hype and glory, much of it fully deserved. The performances of Michael Ball as the avenging demon barber and Imelda Staunton as a bustling, bravura, pie-eyed Mrs Lovett will remain definitive for a very long time.

But I do have qualms, not queasiness, about the musical itself, which Jonathan Kent’s penetrating and powerful production does not entirely allay: the second act parlour songs of Beadle Bamford (Peter Polycarpou) outstay their welcome; the love story of the wandering sailor and Sweeney’s lost daughter is under-written; and her birdcage song is one of several banal, over-ingratiating items.

And although the second act recovers from the tactical error of bathing Mrs Lovett’s pie shop in fairy lights and Cockney oompah-pah (Sondheim’s grasp of London/Victorian idiom is shaky throughout), t...

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Latest User Review

Bella Woods - 18 November 2012:

I have seen this show three times, once at chichester and the other two imps in the adelphi. i will admit that the staging looked better at chichester but apart from that the show was perfect, utterly sublime. the cast was perfect especially the GENIUS of ball and staunton. the music was so brilliant with incredible range to the the songs and the interlacing of the soft johanna anthony sings and sweeney's johanna added to the genius rather than took away from it as was suggested in the article above. Have never enjoyed a show more. Each time i watched it the brilliance washed over me again from the dar comedy to the tragedy of this perfect, perfect musical,...

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